Cop charged over repo payments

Regional Report - Cops & courts

August 12, 2008|By Gary Taylor, Sentinel Staff Writer

A Sanford police officer was arrested Monday after a nine-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into allegations he was unlawfully compensated for assisting an auto-sales company in making repossessions. Christopher McClendon, 25, faces a charge of accepting unlawful compensation. He was released from the Seminole County Jail after posting $2,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison, said FDLE spokeswoman Sharon L. Gogerty. McClendon used his position as an officer to assist a business in making repossessions and, in return, his personal auto loan with the same company was forgiven, Gogerty said. The compensation was about $8,000, she said. McClendon, who has been with the Sanford agency since February 2004, has been suspended without pay, said Sanford police spokeswoman Cleo Cohen. Her agency received and turned over the complaint last year. McClendon was suspended twice without pay in 2007, Cohen said -- once for insubordination and once for discussing the case with other officers.